Zacharias 7

1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Darius the king, [that] the word of the Lord came to Zacharias on the fourth [day] of the ninth month, which is Chaseleu.

When Darius had been the emperor for almost four years, on December 7, Yahweh gave me [another] message.

2 And Sarasar and Arbeseer the king and his men sent to Bethel, and [that] to propitiate the Lord,

The people of Bethel [city] sent two men, Sharezer and Regem-Melech, along with some other men, [to the temple of Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels, ] to request that Yahweh bless them.

3 speaking to the priests that were in the house of the Lord Almighty, and to the prophets, saying, The holy offering has come in hither in the fifth month, as it has done already many years.

They also asked the priests at Yahweh’s temple and the prophets [this question]: “For many years, during the fifth month [and during the seventh month of each year], we have mourned and (fasted/abstained from eating food). Should we [continue to do that]?”

4 And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,

Then the Commander of the armies of angels gave me a message.

5 Speak to the whole people of the land, and to the priests, saying, Though you fasted or lamented in the fifth or seventh [months] (yes, behold, these seventy years) have you at all fasted to me?

[He said], “Tell [RHQ] the priests and all the [other] people of Judah that during the past 70 years, when they mourned and fasted during the fifth and seventh months [of each year], it was not really [RHQ] me, [Yahweh], whom they were [honoring].

6 And if you eat or drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?

And when they ate and drank, it was really [RHQ] to [benefit] themselves.

7 Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her, and the hill country and the low country was inhabited?

That is certainly [RHQ] what I continually told the former prophets to proclaim [to the people], when Jerusalem and the nearby towns were prosperous and filled with people, and people [also] lived in the desert area to the south and in the foothills [to the west].”

8 And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying,

Yahweh gave another message to me, saying

9 Thus says the Lord Almighty; Judge righteous judgement, and deal mercifully and compassionately every one with his brother:

“[Tell the people that] this is what the Commander of the armies of angels says: ‘Do what is just/right, and act kindly and mercifully toward each other.

10 and oppress not the widow, or the fatherless, or the stranger, or the poor; and let not one of you remember in his heart the injury of his brother.

Do not (oppress/treat cruelly) widows or orphans or foreigners or poor people. Do not even think about doing evil to anyone else.’”

11 But they refused to attend, and madly turned their back, and made their ears heavy, so that they should not hear.

But the people refused to pay attention [to what Yahweh said]. They turned their backs [to him], and put their hands over their ears in order to not hear [what he said].

12 And they made their heart disobedient, so as not to listen to my law, and the words which the Lord Almighty sent forth by his Spirit by the former prophets: so there was great wrath from the Lord Almighty.

They were very stubborn [IDM], and they would not listen to the laws [that God gave to Moses] or the messages that the Commander of the armies of angels told his Spirit to give to the prophets who were now dead. So the Commander of the armies of angels was very angry.

13 And it shall come to pass, [that] as he spoke, and they listened not, so they shall cry, and I will not listen, says the Lord Almighty.

The Commander of the armies of angels says, “When I called/spoke [to the people], they would not listen. So when they called/prayed [to me], I did not listen.

14 And I will cast them out amongst all the nations, whom they know not; and the land behind them shall be made utterly destitute of any going through or returning: yes they have made the choice land a desolation.

And I caused them to be scattered among many nations, where they were strangers. [It was as though] [MET] a whirlwind [picked them up and carried them away from their country]. The country/land that they [were forced to] leave was ruined, with the result that no one could [live there or even] travel through it. [It was previously] a delightful land, but they caused it to become (desolate/like a desert).”